News in Brief

Staggering increase in recycling in NE Derbyshire

Under the new-look system, the old blue box and bag which held material including paper, glass and tins have been replaced by a single burgundy bin which allows residents to put all their recyclable material in one place, including plastic bottles for the first time. The new bins are now in use by nearly 79,000 households across the two council areas and the authorities have seen an average increase of 105% in the amount of material being presented for recycling. By joining forces to procure a joint contact from service provider, HW Martin, the two authorities are also set to save a combined 400,000 a year.

Switching to the new system means the councils are one of the first in Derbyshire to include plastic bottles in their kerbside recycling service and also puts them ahead of new European rules which will require all councils to collect plastic bottles by 2015. Bolsover district councils recycling rate could also increase further when it moves to alternate weekly collections of residual waste and recycling in November (see letsrecycle.com story).

Cllr Nick Foster, North East Derbyshire district councils member for the environment, said: We have been overwhelmed by the early success of the scheme, which underlines that our residents really are committed to recycling. Early results show an average increase of 105 per cent across both areas which is staggering, and we will be working hard to keep up this fantastic momentum.

Waste merger referred to Competition Commission

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) yesterday (August 25) referred the completed acquisition by Stericycle, Inc (Stericycle) of Ecowaste Southwest Limited (Ecowaste) to the Competition Commission for further investigation.

Stericycle’s UK subsidiary, SRCL Limited (SRCL), provides waste management services to medical and other sectors throughout England and Wales. Ecowaste provides the same service in the south west of England and owns a treatment facility at Avonmouth, Bristol.
The OFT concluded that the acquisition would give rise to competition concerns in relation to the collection, processing and disposal of healthcare risk waste in the wider area around Bristol. SRCL currently operates a number of medical waste plants in the south of England and the evidence indicates that SRCL and Ecowaste had competed closely. The OFT is not confident that there is sufficient competition in the area from other competitors to prevent SRCL from raising prices or reducing service in the future.

Amelia Fletcher, OFT chief economist and decision maker in this case, said: This merger brings together the two main providers of waste management services in the wider area around Bristol, SRCL and Ecowaste. The loss of rivalry, due to the merger, may result in a substantial lessening of competition, potentially leading to higher prices or reducing service to customers in the local area, including hospitals and other public sector customers. Given that we have not been able to rule out competition concerns we are referring the merger for a fuller investigation to the Competition Commission.

MGB Plastics wins bin contract with Serco

Wheeled bin manufacturer MGB Plastics has won a major deal to supply hundreds of thousands of wheeled bins to services company Serco. The contract will begin with an order to supply 170,000 bins from next month to Sandwell council in the West Midlands.

Next month MGB will supply 20,000 180 litre bins to Serco which it will distribute to homeowners in Sandwell. This will be followed by 80,000 180 litre bins and 70,000 240 litre bins which will be rolled out from October to December. MGB Plastics operates from a 5,000 sq ft factory on Barbot Hall Industrial Estate in Rotherham manufacturing 1.5 million bins a year. It also provides kitchen caddies, inner caddies and kerbside boxes.

Conor Sugrue, general manager at MGB Plastics, said: This will allow us to build on our already very successful relationship with local authorities across the UK. We look forward to a mutually beneficial working experience with Serco over the next three years and hopefully beyond.

Repatriation of illegal waste begins in Northern Ireland

Work bagan this week to return thousands of tonnes of illegally deposited waste in County Down in Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland.

Officials from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and Dublin city council have started supervising the process of returning an estimated 10,500 tonnes of waste from the site adjacent to Pats Road, Ballymartin, County Down.An agreement between Dublin city council and the NIEA to repatriate illegal waste was made in June 2009. This is the third site so far to see waste repatriated. The process to remove the waste is estimated to take up to 10 weeks to complete. The waste will be excavated and repatriated to a fully authorised landfill site in the Republic of Ireland.

Northern Ireland Environment Minister Alex Attwood said: I welcome the fact that illegally deposited waste has started to be removed from another site. I am in ongoing contact with my counterpart in the Republic of Ireland, Phil Hogan over this issue. I want the whole process to be completed as quickly as possible.

Interserve wins contract for Runcorn EfW

Construction group Interserve has won a 10 million contract to install major equipment at the energy-from-waste plant being developed by Keppel Seghers at Ineos Chlors site in Runcorn, Cheshire. The plant is being built to service Viridor’s long-term PFI contract with the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority.

Interservewill deliver access and mechanical services during phase one of this two-phase project. It is also providing other works up to the value of 4 million for the client including access and scaffolding services along with formwork and falsework to the project – through its equipment services division, RMD Kwikform.

The energy-from-waste plant will include a combined heat and power plant capable of processing 420,000 tonnes per year of solid recovered fuel derived from household waste. At full capacity it will be able to supply 270,000 MWh of electricity and 500,000 tonnes of steam per year.

Bill Craig, Interserve managing director – Industrial, said: The plant is one of the largest waste and renewable energy projects in Europe and Interserves involvement will consolidate our position as a leading solutions provider in this growing UK market sector.